Fiona Button - Remember the name

WHO says men can't multi-task? In the Christmas shopping rush I spotted a bloke shielding his eyes from the blinding sun while chewing gum and calling on his mobile phone. And driving.

MIND you, his achievement pales against that of a driver spotted by a reader negotiating the latest roadworks on the M6. She was not only driving but also texting on her mobile while reading from her Kindle propped up on the dashboard.

ELIZABETHAN-style stuffed poultry creations are all the rage this Christmas, but don't leave them unattended. You could end up with a pigeon inside a pheasant inside a chicken inside a goose inside a turkey, inside a cat.

I'VE never been in a theatre where the roof collapsed, as in last week's Apollo horror in London, but I was once in a theatre where the scenery caught fire. It concentrates the mind wonderfully. Although the fire was quickly extinguished, the image of flames leaping up the set towards the gallery, is not one you'd forget. Which is why, when most theatre and cinema goers rush to get seats in the centre of the auditorium, I will always go for an aisle seat and make a mental note, on the way in, of the quickest way out.

I HAD never seen young Fiona Button on telly or on stage until last week. She plays Wendy in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Christmas show, Wendy & Peter Pan, at Stratford, and she is pure dynamite. I can't think when I have seen such total mastery of a part, or such a sure grasp on a script delivered at breakneck speed. Remember the name. I suspect she is going places.

BEFORE the show, the RSC Artistic Director, Gregory Doran, revealed at a press reception that the world-famous company will be marking the centenary of the First World War next year with something special, but it was all terribly secret, hush-hush and he couldn't breathe a word. I was reminded of another big WW1 secret, the one about the forthcoming attack in Blackadder Goes Forth, which was so secret that it was known only to: "Field Marshal Haig, Haig's wife, all Field Marshal Haig's wife's friends, their families, their families' servants, their families' servants' tennis partners, and some chap that General Melchett bumped into the mess the other day called Bernard." I fear the RSC's big secret will be just as leaky.

IT IS a little early for New Year predictions but let me stick my neck out. Have you noticed how quiet the London "slavery" case involving three women allegedly held for 30 years, has gone? Home Secretary Theresa May sternly promises new laws to crack down on slavery but what existing law has been broken in a case where three adults, who possessed mobile phones and could go shopping, were living long-term with two other adults in a house provided by the local council? If that's slavery in a sense that any jury would understand it, then I'm Rumpole of the Bailey. A Radio 4 documentary a few days ago had one contributor who referred to "gross misrepresentation" and concluded that the case was "a complicated and puzzling picture." I wouldn't be surprised if this case, one of the the biggest stories of 2013, never comes to court.

THE novelist Paul Torday died too young, at 67, leaving one of the most intriguing titles of any book:. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. How could you see that title in the bookshop and not pick it up? I am reminded of the late, great Alan Coren who, having difficulty getting his work published, discovered that the most popular books were those about golf or cats. He promptly renamed his book and had a best-seller on his hands. Golfing for Cats.